Sen. John McCain is the first U.S. senator to call for airstrikes to stop Syria’s brutal crackdown on its own people. The Arizona Republican made a strong argument on Monday for a U.S.-led bombing campaign. But there are five big reasons the United States will not strike.

For the first time in years, the Chinese government announced that its growth rate would fall below 8 percent and openly admitted that its economy is imbalanced, relying almost entirely on exports to feed the masses. The Chinese economy is desperately in need of restructuring. But can a communist country really make the kind of quick adjustments needed to prevent an economic collapse?